Italy

Baghet

Also known as the Piva delle Alpi and the Pia, the Baghet comes from the far north of Italy in the Alpine Lombard Aline area specifically the Seriana and Brembana valleys. It comprises a chanter and two drones - a bass two octaves and tenor one octave below the keynote of the chanter.

Ciaramella

Musa

This instrument like the Piva comes from the north west of Italy and consists of a chanter and a single bass drone that in playing lies under the pipers right arm. The chanter does not have a thumb hole and the top note of the scale is obtained by closing all tone holes except the top one as in the French Bombarde.

Piffero

The loud shawm used to accompany the Musa, one of the bagpipes of northern Italy. Like the Ciaramella described above it is rarely pitched the same as the bagpipe and plays in harmony with it, being normally pitched a fourth below.

Piva

Like the Musa, the Piva comes from the north west of Italy and shares a similar chanter with the thumb hole being absent and the reed being made off the staple. The playing attitude is like that of the Baghet with the bass drone over the shoulder and the tenor drone hanging vertically downwards.

Surdelina

From the south of Italy this small bagpipe with a few exceptions has only a compass of a fifth. The scale is split between the two chanters which are cylindrically bored and use single reeds. A variation is the Surdulina di Soveria with a wider compass of almost an octave
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Zampogna

The general name for the bagpipe of Central, Southern Italy and Sicily, it's form being of two separately fingered chanters and with between one and four drones. The compass varies from a total of a fifth plus leading note to an octave and a fifth depending upon the type/region, divided between the two chanters. The bore of the chanters and sometimes the drones is a primitive conical type being made with a series of drills inserted in turn of increasing diameter giving a stepped profile with these steps then being reamed or filed away
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